Sirhan Hotel Van

... 305;st ındustry for a long tıme to know whos what. But I somehow doubt ıt as maybe he could have heard thru the grapevıne as ıt ıs a small place. He happens to be the go-to guy for Iranıan Vısas. We chatted abıt and when he spotted a few 'Australıan' tourısts we saıd our goodbyes and I set off to the bus statıon.

Once at the bus statıon, the man behınd the counter asked for my tı ...

... the bible. But I think the swim off the island afterward was more memorable. Lake Van is another Dead Sea in the making – I think it has no outlet. So the water, clear and clean, tasted slightly salty and at the same time sweet, since there are higher than normal concentration of mineral in it, and my skin was slimy when wet.

We also found out that Aug. 30 is an important day in Turkey, it is their Victory Day, when ...

... out I paused at the gate to put on my sunglasses, and was engaged in conversation in English by a carpet dealer from across the street. Not directly about carpets, of course, but in the general way of all new meetings.

Spying across the way a nice looking one (to my taste, at least) I went with him to his shop to see what else was there. I remember visiting a shop in Erzurum three years ago. And if I can generalize from these two visits--and really knowing nothing ...

... to be told the bus left an hour earlier than it did yesterday. Everyone seemed to have a different story so we decided we'd head out to the station and figure it out there. When I returned to the hotel room James was looking a lighter shade of green and was literally doing shuttle runs to and from the bathroom at very regular intervals! He was so ill but insisted he'd be OK for the 8 hour bus trip! It must have been the kebab from last night – my inner ...

... number of people holding it all together by whatever means they can, but i have to say nothing has worried me as these people work very hard indeed to put bread on the table.

Caught the local mini bus back and sat at the back with 2 young girls in the their beautiful head scarves. they gave me a red rose - how lovely.

Another fantastic meal out and enjoyment of the city at night.

Breakfast was excellent a large bowl of honey for all to dip in!

... the begınnıng of the last century, so the government funded restoratıon of the Island ıs a good step ın ımprovıng relatıons between the two. The Turkısh-Armenıan border, however, ıs stıll closed, otherwıse I defınıtely would have taken a bus to vısıt Armenıa. After the Island we went to see the Van cats, whıch was by far and away a dısapoıntment. The breed of cat ıs unıque to the regıon and famous for havıng two dıfferent color eyes and lovıng water, among other ...

... of a logical reason. While the boxes of candy were being checked by the soldiers, our passports were verified and we even had to fill out some security form. This time the delay was "only" 1 hour. Shortly after we left, we hit another friggin checkpoint. I had no idea how many more we were going to hit between here and Van. From 10 to 2, we hit 3 checkpoints. Within those 4 hours, we drove for less than 2. We were less than 150 kms away from the ...

... We questioned whether we should have taken our bags with us but we just decided to keep them on the bus and only get them if we were asked by the Iranian officials. There wasn't much of an issue getting out of Iran although the immigration official did ask me a lot of questions. I didn't know what the point was now that I was leaving. He even asked if I was a journalist. I said no but I knew why he was asking. I then walked over to the Turkish side with Miles ...

... The Turks have created a cult of personality around Attaturk, displaying large statues, or outlines of his face on the sides of mountains overlooking cities along with huge signs saying "I'm glad to be a Turk' etc. All this in areas with 90% Kurdish population. In addition, we've seen one picture frame with a plaster-cast imprint of Attaturk's face. In the far reaches of eastern Turkey there are numerous military ...

... worked. But, when my battery was down to about 17% I plugged it in. It was not charging, but I was continuing to read an email and listen to some jazz via iTunes and KPLU, when there was a little tick, and the screen went black.



I also left my dark glasses on the bus on the way to Van. Changing seats and whatnot to view the spectacular scenery--at least along the ...